Nintendo Switch Online's April NES Games Announced

Nintendo has announced the three games being added to the NES library available as part of Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions, all of which will be available on April 10.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream, and Star Soldier are the three titles Nintendo will add in April to a collection that already includes Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, and more.

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels was originally released in Japan as Super Mario Bros. 2 and prominently came to North America as The Lost Levels in the Super Mario All-Stars Collection.

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Punch-Out!! will see players take on the role of Little Mac, duking it out with the heavyweights of the World Video Boxing Association circuit, starting out with Glass Joe.

Star Soldier is a shoot'em up vertical shooter that will see players traverse 16 stages in the effort to stop Starbrain's galactic invasion.

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Check out Nintendo's full, official descriptions for each game below:

Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels – Originally released in Japan as Super Mario Bros.® 2, this game has previously made only brief cameo appearances in the Western Hemisphere. Mario fans will appreciate the familiar look and feel of the game, while finding that its updated gameplay creates an entirely new challenge. In addition to the classic enemies already known to fans worldwide, there are also Poison Mushrooms, backward Warp Zones and the occasional wind gust (which can help or hinder your progress).

Punch-Out!! Featuring Mr. Dream – As young boxer Little Mac, players have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to battle the big guys of the World Video Boxing Association circuit. Take them on one by one, starting with skinny Glass Joe. Battle up through King Hippo and all the way to the WVBA Champion himself. Players use their best jabs, hooks and power uppercuts to knock out opponents, but must also dodge jaw-breaking blows by paying attention to subtle changes in their foe’s body position.

Star Soldier – The standard for vertically scrolling shooters, Star Soldier is the original game that spawned all of the titles in the long-running Soldier series. Go inside a floating space station inhabited by a giant computer known as Starbrain. Your mission: to stop Starbrain’s galactic invasion by piloting Caesar, a new compact space fighter, through 16 deadly stages.

2018 brought with it the first real rumblings of Microsoft and Sony's plans for next-generation consoles. While both companies have acknowledged the existence of new hardware, the details and potential release dates are still heavily rumored.

Microsoft first officially mentioned its work on a new Xbox (or Xboxes) during its E3 2018 press conference, when Phil Spencer said it was "deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles, where we will once again deliver on our commitment to deliver the benchmark of console gaming." Shortly after, a report published by Thurrott claimed Microsoft's next-gen plans include a "series of devices," code-named "Scarlett," that are expected to launch in 2020.

A subsequent report by Thurott, published in July, expanded on the Scarlett rumors. According to the report, Microsoft will release two consoles in 2020: a traditional piece of next-gen hardware and a cheaper, streaming-focused box.

Rumors about Sony's next-gen console, meanwhile, have been more scarce. The company's CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida, told the Financial Times next-generation hardware is "necessary," though he didn't comment on a potential name or any further details for what will likely become PlayStation 5. The FT report, however, claims Sony's next console "might not represent a major departure from the PS4, and that the fundamental architecture would be similar."

Considering these rumors, and given the fact that November will mark PlayStation 4 and Xbox One's sixth year on the market, it's not too farfetched to believe we may get our first look at the ninth generation of consoles in 2019.

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Microsoft and Sony's Next-Gen Consoles

2018 brought with it the first real rumblings of Microsoft and Sony's plans for next-generation consoles. While both companies have acknowledged the existence of new hardware, the details and potential release dates are still heavily rumored.

Microsoft first officially mentioned its work on a new Xbox (or Xboxes) during its E3 2018 press conference, when Phil Spencer said it was "deep into architecting the next Xbox consoles, where we will once again deliver on our commitment to deliver the benchmark of console gaming." Shortly after, a report published by Thurrott claimed Microsoft's next-gen plans include a "series of devices," code-named "Scarlett," that are expected to launch in 2020.

A subsequent report by Thurott, published in July, expanded on the Scarlett rumors. According to the report, Microsoft will release two consoles in 2020: a traditional piece of next-gen hardware and a cheaper, streaming-focused box.

Rumors about Sony's next-gen console, meanwhile, have been more scarce. The company's CEO, Kenichiro Yoshida, told the Financial Times next-generation hardware is "necessary," though he didn't comment on a potential name or any further details for what will likely become PlayStation 5. The FT report, however, claims Sony's next console "might not represent a major departure from the PS4, and that the fundamental architecture would be similar."

Considering these rumors, and given the fact that November will mark PlayStation 4 and Xbox One's sixth year on the market, it's not too farfetched to believe we may get our first look at the ninth generation of consoles in 2019.

Big Video Game Rumors Going Into 2019

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Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's News Editor who has never played The Lost Levels and is looking forward to correcting that. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.